Freedom of Pricing and Safety Preservation

Article 1

Article 1: Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 6 of the Law the prices of goods and services shall be subject to supply and demand mechanism.

Article 2

Article 2: Each of the following shall be deemed an act in violation of the rules of freedom of choice, equality, equity, honesty and credibility provided for in Article 3 of the Law, in dealing with the Consumer:

a) Producing, manufacturing, offering or distributing toxic, counterfeit, state on spoilt goods, or practising or attempting to practice deception, publicity or fraud to market such goods by means of advertisements, publications, posters, flyers or any other means.

b) Deceiving or attempting to deceive the Consumer as to the reality, nature, quality, source, composition, use or components of any good or service.

c) Delivering to the Consumer a good or a quantity of such good, or rendering a service different from what was agreed on.

d) Nonwarning against any risk to safety on using a good, and nonstating how a good is to be used or the precautions to be taken.

e) Nonproviding the good or nonrendering the service agreed on in time.

g) Using ways or means bound to make the process of weighing, measuring or examining the good inaccurate.

h) Giving or using falsified or forged certificates of quality, or giving a false impression that the good or service has a certificate of quality guaranteed by the competent authorities.

i) Nonstatement of the conditions of sale and how to use electrical and mechanical equipment.

j) Advertising goods if such advertising is likely to mislead the consumer as to one of the elements of the good, the quantity of its useful elements, its quantity, source, quantity, the method and date of its manufacture, the results of its use or such other information.

k) Offering reduced goods or sales without obtaining a prior approval or adhering to the term fixed for such sales.

l) Making promotional offers without obtaining a prior approval, nonadhering to term fixed for such promotional offer or procrastinating the delivery of the promised prizes.

Article 3

Article 3: Selling prices must be indicated legibly on the goods themselves, their packing or containers. Also, a list of the applicable prices must be fixed on a conspicuous place in residence places, restaurants cafes and similar places.

Article 4

Article 4: Subject to Article 8 of the Law, goods must conform with the standards assigned to them. Such conformity, which shall be certified by the provider, shall include the nature, kind, intrinsic characteristics, composition and the definitive elements of the good, the precautions to be taken when using the good, the source, origin and the production and expiration date of the good as well as the directions for use, provided that Arabic must be one of the languages in which such information shall be written.

Article 5

Article 5: The distribution and marketing of certain goods may be subjected to special conditions for public order or consumer protection considerations or due to a potential risk involved with using them.

Article 6

Article 6: Subject to the provisions of Article 10 of the Law, the provider must give the consumer a proof of his purchasing the good or receiving he service, whether the consumer requests such proof or not.

Article 7

Article 7:
A) The goods listed in Table 1, attached hereto, shall be deemed goods covered by the warranty provided for in Article 11 of the Law.
B) The services listed in Table 2 attached hereto, shall be deemed service covered by the warranty provided for in Article 12 of the Law.
C) The conditions stated in Table 3 attached hereto, shall be deemed unfair conditions on the consumer or the recipient of the service.

Article 8

Article 8:
On occurrence of any of the events provided for in Article 6 of the Law, the Minister may take provisional measures pursuant to a ministerial decision determining the goods, their prices, how they shall be circulated and the period of validity, in the following cases:
1) An increase in a good's price if such increase has burdened the consumers and crippled their ability to obtain such good.
2) A monopoly of a good that results in an increase in the price of such good and creates complete control of it by any body which affects the market or a part thereof.
3) An agreement to obstruct the rules of competition or mitigate them, or to apportion the market; or the occurrence of an interruption of the distribution of the good in the normal course which leads to a scarcity of such good or increasing its price.
4) Devising measures that restricts access of the market by new providers.
5) Concluding any agreement to dominate the market.
6) Refusal of sale or conclusion of conditional sales or application of discriminatory sale conditions aimed to harm consumers.
The Ministerial decision must be published in the media, and the decision may, in case of persistence of the same circumstances, be extended for another period/periods.

The Rules and Procedures for Judicial Seizure

Article 1

a) A record of the office shall be made including the following:
• The date, time and place of making the record, kind of the offence and the result of the preliminary inspection of the good
• The name of the record writer and the name and capacity of the person against whom the action is taken whether he is the owner of the commercial firm or one of his employees.
• The authorized employee may put any good suspected of being counterfeit, damaged, poisonous, banned, unfit for human consumption, or of exposing the consumer's health and safety to danger, or non-conforming with the standards adopted in the Sultanate, under the custody of their owners until the offence is decided.
• The record shall be singed by the owner of the commercial firm or any of his employees who witnessed the incident. A copy of the record shall be given to the owner of his employee and if he refuses to sign or receive the copy, such refusal shall be stated in the record.

b) Submit a memo of the incident together with the original offence record to the Director of the Consumer Protection Department or the Directors of Commerce & Industry Administration in the other governorates and regions to take necessary actions. As for the goods, they shall be inspected and the matter referred to the Consumer Protection Committee if the offence is established, otherwise the suspended goods shall be released.

c) The Committee, in case of offence is established, shall take the actions provided for in Article 7 of the Law.

Article 2

a) Present the commercial licenses and facilitate their inspection.
b) Facilitate the performance of the authorized officials of their work and enable them to access their premises to inspect the records and documents they request.

Article 3

Whoever violates the provision of these Regulations shall be subject to the penalties provided for in the Law.

Goods covered by warranty

S.No.

Goods

1.

All types of vehicles

2.

Electronic devise

3.

Auto spare parts

4.

Motors/engines

5.

Tyres

6.

Housewares

7.

Fishing and pleasure boats and accessories

8.

House furniture, décor and furnishings

9.

Apparel and textiles

10.

Paints and varnishes

11.

Digital cameras and accessories

12.

Leather products of all kinds

13.

Electric appliances and lighting fixtures

14.

Hospital equipment

15.

Catering equipment

16.

Heavy tools and machinery

17.

Electric equipment

18.

Computers and accessories

19.

Agricultural materials and equipment

20.

Gold, silver and jewelry

21.

Musical instruments

22.

Toys

23.

Bicycles and motorcycles

24.

Chemicals and insecticides

25.

Sanitary ware

26.

Solar energy equipment

27.

Cosmetics, perfumes and incense

28.

Audio-visual tapes

29.

Veterinary equipment

30.

Petroleum equipment

31.

Industrial equipment

Services covered by warranty

S.No.

Services

1.

Vehicle maintenance

2.

Electric appliances maintenance

3.

Electric appliances maintenance

4.

Computer maintenance

5.

Maintenance of household appliances

6.

Maintenance of boats

7.

Maintenance of bicycles and motorcycles

8.

Maintenance of mechanical equipment

9.

Express mail service

10.

Transport of goods and passengers

11.

Transport of passenger

12.

Provision of telecommunications service

13.

Connecting television cable

14.

Private education

15.

Travel and tourism

16.

Provisions of workforce

Unfair conditions for the consumer/recipient of service

1. The expression "sold goods shall not be returned or replaced on shopwindows and purchase invoices.

2. Stipulating a definite period, less than the legally specified period, for returning the good.

8. Stating a period of warranty less than the period determined by the Law and the Ministerial circular.

No one imagined that greed and deviousness would reach such a staggering level that thought exist only in movies and investigative drama shows , yet it became a stark reality when some merchants sought to make a profit on the account of health and safety of the young and adults alike utilizing the God-given intellect that they posses into destruction and evil instead of serving public good , the devious plan used ( Back to school ) season by carving holes inside books and hiding chewing tobacco inside in away from the inspectors notice targeting the younger generation with these destructive materials that effect the health , mind and safety of our kids .

The Judicial officers noticed that consumers come very frequently to a specific shop during one of the inspection tours which raised their suspicions to strengthening the monitoring and follow up on that matter , students were spotted in the shop as well , the Officers expediently intervened to inspect the shop , the inspection did not reveal anything at first , however , the officers noticed a stack of books and decided to inspect it , surprisingly , they found more than 600 pouches of chewing tobacco on its way to be sold and distributed on consumers and students , the officers immediately issued a violation and referred the case to the General Prosecution to deal with the matter as per the Law